Sophie Munden, Evaluation - Question One

Question 1 - In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media texts?

Form: Trailer, Film Magazine Front Cover and Film Poster

Genre: Drama

Narrative

Drama Films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature - http://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html.

Treatment

The narrative of our film follows a straightforward use of drama conventions - a struggling female character dealing with emotional crises, trying to make a better life for herself.

We decided we wanted to target a specific target audience of young female adults therefore using a successful genre and narrative made our film easily identifiable. Looking at it from an industry point of view, this made it easily packaged and commercialised as conventions have already been established.

This decision was also influenced by Adorno and Horkheimer's theory of standardisation. The idea that media products are being sold as being somehow 'unique' however, following general and conventional rules and arguably being stripped of their identity. These views formed inspiration, genres are standardised, but aren't they just what people want? Their views that the audience is made passive was an idea we chose to use to our advantage, the more you consume of a genre, the more you want it.

Characterisation

Like the narrative, we based our characters around british stereotypes.

Blossom - the protagonist. Struggling unlucky female. Unnoticed, beaten, bullied. Sartorial codes - subtle, typical teenage cajual wear, indicates at lower class background.

Mother - conflicting relationship with daughter. stereotypical 'junky'. Young. Re-married. Cigarette in hand, alcohol. Doesn't make effort in her appearance.

Step Father - abusive towards Blossom. Violence, anger dominant.

James - popular in school. Pressured to be a stereotypical 'jock/prom king' however has another hidden side to him. Caring, sensitive.

Title

The film is also the name of our main character, Blossom. We chose this title/name in the attempt to use symbolism. It indicates at the narrative and is suggestive of her emotional journey - beginning as an abused, bullied, shy girl and 'blossoming' as she stands up for herself. Furthermore, the word blossom is related with flowers. Flowers are symbols of beauty and purity, implying at her character. We have this symbol throughout our products as to add a depth to our narrative.

Form:

Trailer

Precious

8 Mile

- Inspiration from these two particular trailers.

We decided not to use special effects or edit our film too much in order to create a raw and personal atmosphere. This decision was not only made due to the fact that it was aimed at an independent audience but because we felt it create more emotion and worked better with the narrative of the film. Each camera shot was taken at head height similar to soaps to make it more conversational and therefore relatable to the audience.

Sound - repetitive piano running constantly through trailer
Mise-en-scene - shots focused around her school, her journey walking to and from school and her house and her house. Indicates at typical school girls day, easily idtifiable. Sepia colours, each scene blurring into the next.
Camera - mid shots, close ups, relate to characters.
Editing & Structure -
Voice over - Starts with Blossom saying 'Hi, my name's Blossom. But why would you care? No body else does.' Instantly suggests at narrative and genre.

Font - simple, relatable to females however still unisex.

Our trailer follows Todorv's theory as its structure indicates an equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium.

- Blossom is alone, beaten, bullied.

- James befriends Blossoms then betrays her

- Blossom is no longer alone

Film Poster
Postmodern ideas, audience becomes more powerful as they can create their own meaning.

Still indicates emotion (convention of drama) by broken flower and black silhouette however done graphically rather than 'real people'.

Image - Broken flower surrounding silhouette of protagonist
Colour - Yellow and black - contrasting moods.

Font/Title - simple, relateable to females howver still unisex
Credits - at the bottom of the poster, not distracting from image
Actors/Actresses - not bold, showing that narrative and creativity is the main selling point of the film
Indication at Narrative - Flower symbolises growth, relating to Blossom's emotional journey through the film. Broken, symbolises different aspects of her life, disjointed as well as...

Film Magazine Front Cover

Both using and challenging conventions of an independent film magazine.

use conventions, close-up of actress, dull colours, intelligent title however looking away from camera, avoiding eye contact, not engaging with the audience (mystery, insecure, emotion)

challenge conventions, excited language, focus on stars.

Aimed at both independent audience and young female audience.

Layout - image in centre, focal point
Masthead - (Title, Font) image overlaps title, simple block font

Language - mixture of both intelligent and excited
Images - one image, implying that content is more important to the magazine
Included/Articles - interview with the main actress, talking about the challenges she faced. Suggestive of depth and opinions.